Interview questions from Dawn

1. What is your favorite thing about your house? Why?
I think the location is still what I love most. We're in the city, with easy access to museums, fine dining and shopping, yet surrounded by lots of trees. Since I grew up in a rural area, trees are very important to me. Extensive hiking and biking trails are just a block away. At the same time, there's a movie theatre and wine shop within walking distance.

The area also has a strong sense of neighborhood. We actually know several of our neighbors' names and talk to them regularly. Many of the early 1900s homes are just really pretty to see as well.

2. If you had to choose only one artistic ability (sing, cook, draw/paint/etc., play an instrument, or another) to excel at what would it be?
I think I could happily forgo being a Broadway or opera star if I could excel at creative writing. I would love to write books for pre-teens and teenagers that capture their imaginations and help nerdy kids feel good about their particular strengths. It's something Madeleine L'Engle does well and why she remains one of my heroes.

3. Are you still liking being a "stay at home" mom? What is the most challenging?
I still really love being home, but I'm still in a honeymoon phase, I think. The most challenging part is yet to come, when discipline issues really come to the fore. Two-year-olds are very skilled at pushing their parents' buttons and wearing them down with persistent misbehavior (whining, tantrums, etc.).

4. Susan Howatch. I've read Wheel of Fortune. Where do I start in her other books?
I'd recommend going to what she wrote next, the Church of England series. The first book is Glittering Images, then Glamorous Powers, Ultimate Prizes, Scandalous Risks, Mystical Paths and Absolute Truths. The series is arranged chiastically. The first and sixth books deal with a father and son who represent the evangelical wing of Anglicanism. The second and fifth book deal with a different father and son, who represent the Anglo-Catholic and Charismatic wing. The central two books both look at one character from two points of view. He represents the liberals. I think he's central because liberalism became a kind of turning point in the church's history.

5. You've had a rather, um, eclectic history with churches. How did you come to the PCA and does a "Reformed" view fit well with your theology?
I came to the PCA in a rather circuitous way that seems kind of typical of my life. Here goes:

I got a low-paying job in the Philly area and needed a cheap place to stay. I called the only Southern Baptist church in the area (the denom. I was attending with my parents at home), and asked to put up a notice on their bulletin board. Within a week, a Christian family called me and offered a free place to stay if I would live with their elderly relative and do housework, laundry and errands. Within four months, the elderly woman died.

One of this lady's close friends decided to take me under her wing and invited me to attend church with her family. They, of course, attended Tenth Presbyterian. For quite a while, I continued attending the Southern Baptist church in the morning and Tenth Presby in the evening. A large part of what got me to leave the Baptists was the fact that they had almost no other single people in the congregation.

Going only to Tenth was a difficult transition in some ways. I hadn't grown up with infant baptism or such emphasis on doctrine. I found myself reacting to the first sermons I heard from James Boice with a mix of eagerness to hear more and irritation. I'll try to explain this in my answer to the second half of the question.

The second part of this question (does a "Reformed" view fit well with your theology?) is rather hard to answer. I think my faith has been strongly shaped by my eclectic background, and at heart I want to incorporate the strengths of several traditions. I think reformed preaching appeals to my intellectual side, and I prefer traditional worship on the whole. Most of my quibbles with the PCA are not theological. It's more matters of style, liturgy and attitude that bother me.

I've met too many reformed people who find assurance of their salvation in having the right ideas about Jesus and his atoning work, rather than through actual faith in Christ. The intellectualism that gets so much praise in reformed circles can in some ways be a liability. "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." I see people becoming discouraged because they're expected to be "theological racehorses" when their spiritual gifts lie elsewhere and rarely get used to build up the church. (My thanks to John B. for articulating this so well in a conference talk.)

I don't want to belabor the point here. I like a lot of things about our church. Some things I'd like to be different. Part of my faith journey has been an increased interest in liturgical worship. Aside from wanting to receive the Lord's Supper more often, I like the fact that liturgy is very Trinitarian. I think the Baptists frankly have a more robust view of the Holy Spirit than most Presbyterians I know.

I could probably be very happy as an Anglican, if there were any churches of the non-wacky-liberal variety anywhere near us.


::If you would like to participate too, here are your instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions (not the same as you see here).
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.::